Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domainStony Plain faces fewer hazards than 95% of Canadian towns
Little of the land around Stony Plain has burned: 0.3% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.008% a year. Earthquake risk in Stony Plain is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.016 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Stony Plain a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Stony Plain’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Stony Plain: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Stony Plain faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Stony Plain: A+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Stony Plain with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #214 of 474 in Alberta and #246 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 73 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Stony Plain: 0.3% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Stony Plain’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.008% of the land around Stony Plain each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 16 km from Stony Plain’s homes, none within 5 km.
Forest fuel is scarce around Stony Plain: 0.8% of the land within 5 km, 1.6% within 25 km.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Alberta · highest of 478
Stony Plain ranks 61st of the 478 towns in Alberta for burn rate, at 0.008% a year; Wainwright leads with 1.43%.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
Stony Plain is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or higher.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
No flood study is listed for Stony Plain
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Stony Plain: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Stony Plain on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Stony Plain; in Alberta, 46% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Stony Plain to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Expected shaking damage in Stony Plain: $0.016 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.5 times the typical $0.030: Stony Plain’s $0.016 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Alberta: Stony Plain’s $0.016 sits by the median of $0.013, while Black Diamond reaches $0.048.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Earthquakes cost less around Stony Plain than in 71% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
The model counts damage to Stony Plain’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
1.4% of homes tested around Stony Plain are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Capital Health: radon tests
Stony Plain’s area, at 1.4%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Stony Plain than in most towns in Alberta: 1.4% against 7.5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Stony Plain is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
The survey sampled homes around Stony Plain; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Stony Plain
Alerts for Stony Plain come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Stony Plain to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Stony Plain’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stony Plain | Low | $0.016 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Parkland County 34,286 · 6.2 km | Low | $0.014 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Spruce Grove 44,575 · 6.7 km | Low | $0.015 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Enoch Cree Nation 1,947 · 18 km | Low | $0.016 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Rosenthal 4,873 · 19 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Parkland County burns a little more than Stony Plain, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Stony Plain faces
What to do about the hazards Stony Plain faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Stony Plain.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Stony Plain’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Stony Plain is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Stony Plain’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Stony Plain
How big is the earthquake risk in Stony Plain?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Stony Plain $0.016 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Stony Plain?
Around Stony Plain, 73 survey homes were tested and 1.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Stony Plain’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Stony Plain grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Stony Plain flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Stony Plain’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Stony Plain at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.3% of the land around Stony Plain since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).